Anti-Defamation League, Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem Join to Create Innovative Classroom Product

The Anti-Defamation League, the Shoah Foundation, and Yad Vashem today announced a partnership that will promote Holocaust studies as well as bring innovative anti-bias education to American classrooms.

The multi-media educational product, now in development, will combine the pedagogical experience of all three organizations and will incorporate the historical expertise of Yad Vashem, the national outreach network of the Anti-Defamation League, and the unmatched visual history resources of the Shoah Foundation. Designed to create a multi-layered, engaging learning experience for American secondary school students, this collaboration aims to provide instruction on the history of the Holocaust within the context of contemporary issues of cultural diversity, intolerance, and genocide.

A written curriculum, which meets the national standards of teachers’ associations, will serve as the framework for the project. Every lesson will also include visual history testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses, and the entire undertaking will generate new methods for integrating video into the classroom. First-person testimony provides a unique and current format for learning about the past. Combined with rare archival materials, this video will provide an educational experience for students.

The three partner organizations are each leaders in different aspects of Holocaust and anti-bias education. Their combined resources will broaden and deepen the potential impact and reach of this product, which will be an unprecedented addition to the tools available to teachers and students for the study of the Holocaust, and its relationship to contemporary culture.

Businessman and hi-tech entrepreneur Yossie Hollander is supporting this project. The as-yet-unnamed product is slated to be available to educators in the fall of 2005. An official launch will be held in July, and advance copies of the product will be available for review at that time.

About the Anti-Defamation League

The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world’s leading organization fighting antisemitism through programs and services that counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry operating from its New York headquarters and through its 30 Regional Offices around the country and international liaisons.

To explore the enduring impact of the Holocaust and apply its lessons to contemporary issues of prejudice and moral decision-making, ADL’s Braun Holocaust Institute develops and provides programs for educators, students, community leaders, and families—including through its Hidden Child Foundation/ADL.

Bearing Witness is ADL’s nationally acclaimed Holocaust education program developed in partnership with the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum and the Archdiocese of Washington, with the support of the National Catholic Educational Association and the United States Conference of Catholic Bishops.

The Grosfeld Family ADL National Leadership Youth Mission to the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum provides more than 100 high school students each year with a unique opportunity to learn about the Holocaust and its moral lessons through an intensive three-and-one-half day program, which includes a guided tour through the museum, first-hand testimonials from Holocaust survivors and ADL's A WORLD OF DIFFERENCE® Institute anti-bias programs.

For more information, visit ADL’s website at www.adl.org or write to webmaster@adl.org

About the Shoah Foundation

In 1994, after filming Schindler’s List, Steven Spielberg established Survivors of the Shoah Visual History Foundation to videotape and preserve testimonies of Holocaust survivors and other witnesses before it was too late. Having collected nearly 52,000 videotaped testimonies in 56 countries and 32 languages, the mission of the Shoah Foundation today is to overcome prejudice, intolerance, and bigotry—and the suffering they cause—through the educational use of the Foundation’s visual history testimonies.

The Shoah Foundation is now developing global partnerships to achieve three strategic goals: to preserve and provide access to the archive; to build and support educational programs; and to develop educational products based on the Foundation’s testimonies.

About Yad Vashem

Yad Vashem, the Holocaust Martyrs' and Heroes' Remembrance Authority was established by the Knesset in 1953. Located in Jerusalem, it is dedicated to Holocaust remembrance, documentation, research and education. Through the International School for Holocaust Studies, the International Institute for Holocaust Research, the Archives, the Library, the Hall of Names, and its museums and memorials, Yad Vashem seeks to meaningfully impart the legacy of the Shoah for generations to come. Drawing on the memories of the past, Yad Vashem aims to strengthen commitment to Jewish continuity, and protect basic human values. Yad Vashem has recently launched its Central Database of Shoah Victims' Names onto the internet and an 11th Hour International Campaign is underway to collect nearly 3 million missing names. Yad Vashem is currently completing a 10-year campus and program development initiative that will culminate in the opening of the new Holocaust History Museum in 2005.

For more information please visit www.yadvashem.org.